Canada is on the cusp of a bioeconomic revolution. With its foundation of expansive forests and agricultural land, Canada is poised to unlock the value of its bio-based resources potential.

The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) has a big mandate.

With increasing urbanization comes an increased tax on our environment and its ability to sustain us.

The colour green is associated with many things, including jealousy and inexperience. But for most of us the first association is probably “natural”. This is the idea behind “green chemistry”, which is a concept that has first developed about thirty years ago.

The world has changed in the last few weeks due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Those of us who live in a city are dealing with the lockdown by working from home and only emerging to exercise and buy groceries. But what’s it like for large companies operating production facilities in the forest products industry?

Resolute Forest Products recently announced a $27 million investment to build a 21 tonne per day cellulose filaments plant at its Kénogami paper mill, to start up in 2021.

Since 1983 Valmet has had an unbroken chain of tissue seminars but Covid-19 caused the planned tissue seminars for 2020 to stop; Tissue Talks LIVE and Tissue Talks DIVE. Instead these seminars were arranged as webinars, which also proved to work very well.

Sweden, like the rest of the world, is hit by the Covid-19 virus and makes strong efforts to minimise the spreading and effects of it.

A year ago I wrote about the fact that pulp and paper companies in addition to their core businesses are treading new paths outside the traditional. Integration along the pulp and paper value chain has been executed for many decades, in particular by acquiring packaging converters and paper merchants.

With over $2.9B U.S. in revenue from exports of commercial pulp, tissue paper and other forest products in more than 70 countries, Resolute Forest Products (RFP) couldn’t really be faulted for deciding to sit pretty and enjoy the ride of being a Canadian leader in its field.

Kruger uses the best technology to produce high-end tissue

If you work in the pulp and paper industry, chances are you've come across the term circular economy, which has been creating a lot of hype as of late.

In my last blog, I emphasized that Green Chemistry Principles provide useful, actionable ways to drive innovation strategies and accelerate transformation in the pulp and paper (P&P) industry. Here, I will focus on a facilitating technology in the development and implementation of biomolecules, biomaterials, and bioproducts from biorefinery: molecular modeling (MM).

Increased level of pollution worldwide (soil, air and water) calls for urgent action and scalable solutions.

The Kraft pulping process, patented in 1879 and implemented in 1890, has shown resilience for more than 100 years, as it provides higher pulp strength and allows for about 98% of chemicals recovery cycle and energy efficiency.

In our global economy, where borders are rigid yet porous and goods flow freely between countries, it is increasingly difficult to prevent external threats or to contain internal ones.

The list of FPInnovations’ most recent reports and publications has been updated and is now available for the period ending August 31, 2020.

Montreal, September 16, 2020 – FPInnovations, a Canadian research centre, has successfully completed phase 1 in the development of biodegradable disposable face masks, and is ready to begin the second phase which is expected to lead to an entirely made-in-Canada biodegradable solution for face coverings.

The current debate over what to do about Ontario’s Blue Box frequently confuses at least four distinct but interrelated issues: waste management in general; the recycling option; the relative roles of industry and householders; and the nature of the Blue Box program itself.

The drive to get out of fossil fuels is picking up pace. And the most likely beneficiaries are wood and paper. This may come as a surprise to some people who see steep declines in newspaper consumption and a complete fall-off in letter writing (remember that?).

The Forest Stewardship Council of Canada recently had some rare words of praise for the Canadian paper packaging industry!

Sawlog prices fell in most of the major regions of the world in the 2Q/20. A strengthening US dollar, weaker log demand early in the quarter, and sufficient log supply in some markets contributed to the lower prices.

Germany continued to export logs at record pace in early 2020, with almost 50% of the volume destined for China

Wood fiber costs fell for many hardwood pulp-producing countries worldwide in the 1Q/20.

“It’s time to turn this environmental advantage into an economic and jobs advantage” says FPAC’s Nighbor

The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) annual Awards of Excellence program recognizes and celebrates the men and women who have made special contributions to strengthen Canada’s forest products sector and our forestry communities.

September 21, 2020 - Earlier today, Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC), in partnership with Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB), named Alain Paul with Granules LG Inc., of Mashteuiatsh, Québec as the recipient of the 2020 Indigenous Business Leadership Award.  

Planar microwave moisture measurement, since its inception in 2000, continues to develop sophisticated instrumentation tools which greatly expand the utility of the technology into an ever-expanding range of papermaking applications. 

Introduction

As early as 2016, studies were introduced that showed numerous process control benefits that can be realized on paper machines equipped with the EasyScan traversing permeability, water content, and temperature measurement capabilities.

Introduction

In the day-to-day operation of paper machines, little thought is typically applied to carrier rope runs until something changes that affects downtime related to sheet transfers and/or rope replacement.

COVID-19 is having a huge impact on the world economy, the forest products industry is no exception, as many pulp, paper, and wood producers are slowing down their activities.

FPInnovations held the world's first platooning tests on forestry roads in Rivière-aux-Rats, near La Tuque, QC, last week, paving the way towards the use of autonomous vehicles.

The installation of a new turbine generator isn't expected to just generate new revenue for Domtar's Windsor, QC facility, it will also produce18 MW of electricity, optimize the mill's steam, all the while ensuring operational flexibility.

Held at FPInnovations headquarters in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, the 2018 edition of the Pulp, Paper and Bioproducts Course provided hands-on training to 45 participants coming from Canada and the United States.

On October 24, Kruger hosted nearly 100 employees, dignitaries and partners to celebrate the end of a project that saw a complete rebuild of a paper machine at its Trois-Rivières, QC, facility.

Cristini, a manufacturer of carrier rope, threading systems and spiral fabrics for filtration and paper machine dryer sections, recently celebrated its 20th anniversary in business in Lachute, QC.

A large-scale pilot plant at Resolute’s Thunder Bay mill will further develop FPInnovations’ patented process to produce “2G” sugars and hydrolysis lignin (H-lignin) using mechanical refining, mild chemical treatment and enzymatic hydrolysis.

Some companies have latched on to this visualization technology to make at-the-scene maintenance more time-effective and sure. Integration with the Industrial Internet (IoT) is essential to achieve it's full value potential.

Stora Enso and BillerudKorsnäs announce plans to phase in microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) in paperboard products. Lightweight milk cartons with Stora Enso MFC are already market tested.